[ForumApps] Native Mobile Apps for XenForo [Deleted]

[Aayush]

Aayush updated [ForumApps] Native Mobile Apps for XenForo with a new update entry:

Update 1.1.7

It really scrolls to where you want to be. No we aren’t talking about Taking Back Sunday. Don’t believe me, try clicking on a push notification. If you are looking to invest in ForumApps for your forums, hold on to your horses and watch this resource/thread. We might have a little surprise for you this Friday.

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Kintaro]

I'm trying RPNation app.

1. how about a fast page switch tapping on the page numbers? ...or at least a << to go to the first page and a >> for the last page.
   in threads with more than 5 pages is very tedious tapping many times to go where you want (usually the first page).
2. why if I tap on a thread it takes me in the "middle" of the thread even if I never visited that specific thread? I expect to read it from the first post.
3. I'm on an iPhone7 iOS11 and many times I cant tap on the < > to switch page, I need to try many times to successfully switch a page.
4. Is infinite scroll optional? is a standard these days, and I think that users are expecting it.
5. how about a hybrid form of infinite scroll and pagination? once arrived at the end of the page if you pull it up (the reverse of pulling it down to update) the app will load the next page taking the user to the first post of the next page.

 

[Aayush]

I'm trying RPNation app.

1. how about a fast page switch tapping on the page numbers? ...or at least a << to go to the first page and a >> for the last page.
   in threads with more than 5 pages is very tedious tapping many times to go where you want (usually the first page).
2. why if I tap on a thread it takes me in the "middle" of the thread even if I never visited that specific thread? I expect to read it from the first post.
3. I'm on an iPhone7 iOS11 and many times I cant tap on the < > to switch page, I need to try many times to successfully switch a page.
4. Is infinite scroll optional? is a standard these days, and I think that users are expecting it.
5. how about a hybrid form of infinite scroll and pagination? once arrived at the end of the page if you pull it up (the reverse of pulling it down to update) the app will load the next page taking the user to the first post of the next page.

1. Can you share a screenshot of the page you are referring to because that functionality is already built in.
2. Noted.
3. Noted.
4. We've removed it because we wanted to one the post directly from the push notification. This was tricky to solve with infinite scroll so we ended up deciding to use pagination instead. We are brainstorming a hybrid version of the two but it has it's challenges.

 

[Kintaro]

1. Can you share a screenshot of the page you are referring to because that functionality is already built in.

if the page number is tapped display a vertical list of page numbers.

You are on page 4 of 10 and the App displays:

<     4     >

After tapping on the number 4 it will display (moving the overlay at the center of the screen):

      2
      3
<     4     >
      5
      6

With the numbers column scrollable.

4. We've removed it because we wanted to one the post directly from the push notification. This was tricky to solve with infinite scroll so we ended up deciding to use pagination instead. We are brainstorming a hybrid version of the two but it has it's challenges.

Take a look this hybrid solution (please notice the change in the url address once you pull up or down the page):
https://forum.thirtybees.com/topic/77/warehouse-theme-working

 

[tajhay]

I'm on an iPhone7 iOS11 and many times I cant tap on the < > to switch page, I need to try many times to successfully switch a page.

This is an issue on Android too. Played on a couple of forums and whilst it had promise is looking more like beta software. Hope it improves in the future. An update to have notifications point to the actual post should not be a feature. It should be expected from release. Want to buy but will watch until the product becomes more mature.

 

[Aayush]

if the page number is tapped display a vertical list of page numbers.

You are on page 4 of 10 and the App displays:

<     4     >

After tapping on the number 4 it will display (moving the overlay at the center of the screen):

      2
      3
<     4     >
      5
      6

With the numbers column scrollable.

This really is a very neat solution to the problem we are trying to solve. Thanks

Take a look this hybrid solution (please notice the change in the url address once you pull up or down the page):
https://forum.thirtybees.com/topic/77/warehouse-theme-working

This certainly helps. The entire team brainstormed this and everyone thinks that it's much easier to do things with javascript but converting it to mobile apps is challenging.
The new updates to push notifications we did last week should certainly help in having a hybrid structure. Personally, I prefer infinite scroll and I wouldn't want threads to be displayed in any other way. The current solution is a compromise we had to make in order to ensure that certain other features were working. We will be moving toward infinite scroll in the near future.

 

[Aayush]

Aayush updated [ForumApps] Native Mobile Apps for XenForo with a new update entry:

ForumApps minor update 1.1.8

Fixes minor issue with iOS push notifications. Read the thread for thanksgiving special!

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Aayush]

​

Thanks for being an awesome community.
Thanks for providing us with critical feedback so we could improve.
Thanks for trying ForumApps.

We thank you for everything. As a small gesture, we have decided to waive off $50 setup fee when buying ForumApps till 27th November 2017 11:59PM. So from Black Friday till the end of Cyber Monday you will be able to receive a $50 discount when signing up. Use the coupon code "CYBERMONDAY"

Aayush from ForumApps
PS: We will be closing sales after that for the rest of the year(at least). Announcement on that coming on Tuesday.

 

[Aayush]

We had increased the prices of our apps some time back and a lot of you are pinging us about it since we didn't post an update about the same. We told you that we will do it and we did.

Hmmmm, but this doesn't feel right. It's thanksgiving and I can't be more thankful to this community, so we have decided to reduce the prices for anyone who has provided us with feedback, support and motivation for the past 6 months. All the customers who had purchased after the price increase, we have lowered monthly costs for you as well.

We will bring the prices up after the sale and we will be introducing a new pricing structure later. Customers with ongoing licenses will be grandfathered into the new structure.

 

[ichpen]

This really is a very neat solution to the problem we are trying to solve. Thanks



This certainly helps. The entire team brainstormed this and everyone thinks that it's much easier to do things with javascript but converting it to mobile apps is challenging.
The new updates to push notifications we did last week should certainly help in having a hybrid structure. Personally, I prefer infinite scroll and I wouldn't want threads to be displayed in any other way. The current solution is a compromise we had to make in order to ensure that certain other features were working. We will be moving toward infinite scroll in the near future.

That's a good suggestion regarding page numbering. And yes the hit areas on the next and last page are hit and miss today. I also think a more gesture based way to do last/first page is in order considering the current layout is pretty condensed with hard to hit areas. Perhaps a long press or long swipe type of gesture to go to last page.

 

[ichpen]

@Aayush
Another suggestion:

Currently the pagination bar is shown when total pages = 1. This shouldn't happen, only show pagination bar when total pages > 1.

 

[Veer]

To be honest, I did not liked that floating pagination bar, when I tested it few weeks ago in iOS app. It was annoying.

 

[rdn]

Any big board/active forum using this?
Does the push notification doesn't affect your server performance?

 

[Aayush]

Any big board/active forum using this?
Does the push notification doesn't affect your server performance?

Rpnation.com would be one who agreed to share publicly that they are using ForumApps.
We are in early discussions(after testing the apps on their server) of a custom app based on ForumApps codebase with certain additional functionalities exclusive for their forum. They have roughly 1500 users online right now and about 10 million posts.

 

[Aayush]

Does the push notification doesn't affect your server performance?

Based on the level of optimizations you have done on your site, I reckon it might affect perceived performance for your users. Depending on the number of actions users take per second on your site(posting, liking, creating threads), the push notification is generated for each action individually and a connection to apple/google server is made. I think, this could be expensive if you have a LOT of users active and performing actions on your site at any time.
We haven't faced any such issues so far.

 

[tajhay]

Its worth noting that you need to have your own Apple and Android developer accounts to use this app. The announcement is hidden on page 7 but should be noted in the actual resource page for everyone to note.

Too many "oh we forgot to put that on the resource overview page" for mine. Please cancel my order and refund. There is a reason why the overview page is littered with marketing jargon without actual features or facts.

 

[Aayush]

Its worth noting that you need to have your own Apple and Android developer accounts to use this app. The announcement is hidden on page 7 but should be noted in the actual resource page for everyone to note.

Too many "oh we forgot to put that on the resource overview page" for mine. Please cancel my order and refund. There is a reason why the overview page is littered with marketing jargon without actual features or facts.

Cancelled and refunded.

 

[Aayush]

​

Who said Monday's aren't awesome. Less than 24 hours remain for the cyber monday deal. You will be able to receive a $50 discount when signing up. Use the coupon code "CYBERMONDAY".

Make sure you have Apple & Google Developer accounts.

 

[TMA]

You just lost me as a customer right there...a bug thats been reported since may 2017 and you say you wont fix it now and want to work on xf2 stuff that sir is not acceptable for your paying customers.

Its worth noting that you need to have your own Apple and Android developer accounts to use this app. The announcement is hidden on page 7 but should be noted in the actual resource page for everyone to note.

Too many "oh we forgot to put that on the resource overview page" for mine. Please cancel my order and refund. There is a reason why the overview page is littered with marketing jargon without actual features or facts.

I don't think he meant ill will by doing either of these things; it's just very hard to provide apps as a service, and with Apple's update which affected all of us quite heavily, it got worse, resources are already stretched thin and he'd want to avoid a situation where sales went to zero.

 

[Aayush]

I don't think he meant ill will by doing either of these things; it's just very hard to provide apps as a service, and with Apple's update which affected all of us quite heavily, it got worse, he'd want to avoid a situation where sales went to zero.

Thanks for kind of explaining. I didn't want to start the useless discussion of why we don't do what we don't do and why we charge for a service etc. It's a useless loop. They will buy when they are ready to. Some people won't be our customers ever and there is no point in explaining our motivation, vision and costs to them. Thats a wastage of our time which I'd rather focus on improving our offerings. Something you did by listening to your customers and offering the mobile push.